BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 31. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, to be held in Bishkek on August 31–September 1 and dedicated to the organization’s 25th anniversary, comes against the backdrop of a notable strengthening of Azerbaijan’s role in the SCO’s Eurasian agenda.
Azerbaijan has been interacting with the SCO for more than a decade. The country obtained dialogue partner status in 2015, while the relevant memorandum was signed in Beijing in 2016. Over the past two years, however, the nature of this interaction has changed noticeably. In July 2024, Baku officially applied for observer status, while in September 2025 the SCO decided to introduce a unified “SCO Partner” status, abolishing the previous observer and dialogue partner formats.
The transition to the new system of statuses still requires the completion of legal procedures, but the process itself shows that Azerbaijan’s interaction with the organization is gradually moving beyond a formal partnership framework.
This is also reflected in the level of political representation. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the “SCO Plus” meetings in Astana in 2024 and Tianjin in 2025. At the Tianjin summit, the president described Azerbaijan’s relations with one of the organization’s key members, China, as a foundation for broader regional cooperation. “Azerbaijan is a reliable partner of China in the region. We contribute to maintaining international and regional peace and security, and implement large-scale economic, transport and energy projects,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
China is of particular importance in this context. According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, trade turnover between the two countries reached $4.874 billion in 2025, increasing by 30.2% year-on-year. Azerbaijan’s exports to China rose 4.3-fold to $84.4 million, while imports amounted to $4.790 billion.
Thus, the Chinese direction already has significant economic weight for Baku. But the main point of convergence between Azerbaijan and the SCO is not limited to trade. Transport connectivity is becoming increasingly important. “Azerbaijan was one of the first countries to support the One Belt, One Road initiative put forward by the President of the People's Republic of China. We are implementing substantial practical projects in this direction,” the president said.
This is where the Middle Corridor becomes one of the key elements of the broader framework. For the SCO, which brings together China and Central Asian states, the development of routes toward the Caucasus and Europe creates additional opportunities for trade. For Azerbaijan, the growth of these flows strengthens the country’s role as a transit hub. “Azerbaijan is one of the transport and logistical hubs of Eurasia. We are actively developing international transport corridors and creating modern infrastructure. The East-West and North-South corridors have opened up new economic transport prospects,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
The figures show that this is no longer just a matter of plans. According to the president, cargo traffic along the Middle Corridor through Azerbaijan has increased by nearly 90% since 2022. At the same time, transit times along the route have decreased significantly. In 2025, the volume of freight transported along the East-West corridor in Azerbaijan amounted to 16.9 million tons, including 8.17 million tons along the Europe-Caucasus-Asia route. The North-South corridor handled 9.29 million tons of cargo.
The next stage involves expanding infrastructure. Azerbaijan plans to increase the capacity of the Alat International Trade Seaport from 15 million to 25 million tons per year. This is important not only for Azerbaijan’s national transport system, but also for the entire Middle Corridor chain, where the capacity of individual sections is becoming one of the key factors determining further growth.
“Azerbaijan intends to increase the throughput capacity of the Alat International Sea Port from 15 to 25 million tons per year. The Middle Corridor represents a reliable and safe route connecting China, Central Asia with Europe through Azerbaijan. Since 2022, the volume of cargo traffic along the Middle Corridor through Azerbaijan has grown by almost 90%. The transit time for cargo along this corridor has been significantly reduced,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
The importance of other projects is also gradually increasing within this system. Agreements reached on connecting mainland Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic could expand the country’s transit capabilities, while the Zangezur Corridor is viewed by Baku as a potential component of a broader Eurasian transport network. “I am confident that the Zangezur Corridor will soon become another important segment of the Middle Corridor, as well as the North-South Corridor, which will contribute to enhancing peace, multilateral partnership and benefit all of Azerbaijan's close and distant neighbors to the east, west, north and south of our borders,” the president said.
At the same time, cooperation extends beyond transport. Azerbaijani representatives participate in meetings of SCO ministers responsible for foreign trade and external economic relations, the SCO Economic Forum, as well as the China-SCO Industrial Cooperation Conference. Trade, investment, energy, digitalization and sustainable development are among the key areas of these contacts.
Against this backdrop, the Bishkek summit appears to be another stage in an ongoing process rather than a starting point. Over the past several years, Azerbaijan has simultaneously strengthened ties with China, increased transit flows along key Eurasian routes and raised the level of its interaction with the SCO itself.
The next question is therefore not only what status Azerbaijan will have under the SCO’s updated system. More important is the practical role the country will be able to play within the organization’s expanding economic and transport architecture. This is where the interests of Baku and the SCO increasingly converge. For Central Asian countries and China, Azerbaijan provides access to the Caucasus and European markets, while for Azerbaijan itself, deeper engagement with the SCO offers an additional platform for advancing transport and economic projects.
As a result, Azerbaijan’s role in the SCO is gradually moving from the category of formal partnership toward practical regional influence. If cargo growth, the expansion of the Alat port, the development of the Middle Corridor and the potential integration of the Zangezur route continue, Baku will become increasingly involved in shaping connectivity between China, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Europe. In this case, Azerbaijan’s growing role in the SCO will be determined not only by its formal status within the organization, but by how important a node of the Eurasian economy and transport system the country becomes.
